Karolina Pliskova and Lesia Tsurenko Pull Out of WTA Sydney Event

Tennis - Czech Republic's Karolina Pliskova has withdrawn from the WTA Sydney International after winning the WTA Brisbane International event on Sunday. Pliskova defated Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the Brisbane final on Sunday night and then decided to pull out of the Sydney event - the final tune-up for the Australian Open in Melbourne which begins next week.

Tsurenko has also pulled out of Sydney - both players were scheduled to meet in the first round in Sydney in a re-match of the Brisbane final. The two players are the latest big names to withdraw from the tournament., which has been affected by rain.

World No. 5 Naomi Osaka, the reigning US Open champion, has also pulled out of the Sydney event after losing to Pliskova in the semi-finals. Britain's Johanna Konta, the former World No. 4, has also withdrawn from the event.

Konta had retired in the second round of the qualifying event due to a neck injury. And although she initially accepted a spot in the main draw, she was forced to withdrawdecided to pull out from the main draw as well due to the same injury.

She has been replaced by another lucky loser - Bernarda Pera - in the main draw. Pera will take on seventh seed Kiki Bertens in the first round. The tournament's top two seeds - Simona Halep and Angelique Kerber - have byes in the first round of the event.